Bliss
United States v. Bliss
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM *
Michael Anthony Bliss appeals the district court’s judgment dismissing his habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 . We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 2253(a). We remand for an evidentiary hearing or hearings.
CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY
Bliss appeals the district court’s denial of his habeas corpus petition. The district court denied his request for a Certificate of Appealability (GOA), but this court granted his COA request in regard to the issue of whether Bliss was denied effective assistance of counsel at his sentencing hearing. Bliss moved for a broader COA. We grant the motion as to the following issue: ‘Was Bliss denied effective assistance of counsel prior to or at the time of the entry of his guilty plea?”
DISCUSSION
A. THE PLEA
Bliss pleaded guilty on the day his trial was to begin. He later sent the court a letter in which he asked to withdraw his plea and alleged nine deficiencies in the representation of his trial counsel, Drew Edwards. The district court considered Bliss’s motion and the allegations at the sentencing hearing.
Edwards answered Bliss’s allegations, but only in general terms, and did not respond in detail…